What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • How were my Predictions last year?

    Time to check out how I did with the predictions I made on New Year’s Day 2024.

    1  General Election in UK – Labour landslide. PM – Sir Keir Starmer. (No great change in policies from the Tory government that Labour will replace).

    Yes – fulfilled in every way.

    2  US politics will continue to be dominated by Donald Trump

    Yes

    3  In the US Presidential election in November there will be victory for the Republican Party.

    Yes

    4  AI/Deepfakes have a significant effect in electoral politics.

    Not really – AI/Deepfakes are present but there’s no real evidence that they swung any particular election

    5  Conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine unresolved by end of 2024.

    Alas Yes

    6  No progress for those wanting marriage equality in the Church of England.

    Alas Yes

    7  Twitter goes bust or is sold or both.

    Not quite. Twitter feels pretty wounded but still Xists.

    8  The world will be warmer in 2024 than ever before.

    Yes

    9  Another country will join Nato.

    Yes, Sweden in March.

    A new agreement is reached between the UK and Greece on the Elgin/Parthenon Marbles that opens the door for at least some of them to be displayed in Athens.

    Close but no cigar.

     

    Not a bad year – 7 direct hits with a few misses.

15 responses to “I.D.”

  1. Duncan Avatar
    Duncan

    I’d always thought there were about 20,000 Piskies. The odd thing about these figures is they offer 4 ways of being Anglican in Scotland (Episcopalian, SEC, Anglican and Church of England.) Added together it looks like there could be around 100,000 Anglicans in Scotland (71k CofE/Anglican and 29k Piskie/SEC).

    According to the Scottish Church Census of 2002, there were only 18,870 Episcopalians in Scotland – so looks like the SEC is doing OK. (Although in-house figures for 2002 put it at 45k). At the high point in the 1920s the SEC had supposedly 140000 members and touching 60,000 communicants – our decline in 90 years has been steep, of course, but has levelled, and, as others have pointed out, the damage has been far less severe than elsewhere.

    Reply
  2. Erp Avatar
    Erp

    I wonder what the breakdown is of religion and Scottish/non-Scottish born is. If many who put down CoE were born and baptized in England and haven’t set foot in a church since (except perhaps to attend weddings and funerals) that might explain why they don’t know that north of the border the equivalent is the Piskies. They now live in Scotland and put down CoE as a reflex though for all intents and purposes they are non-religious.

    Reply
  3. Chucks Avatar
    Chucks

    Absolutely. Confusing the SEC with the Church of Scotland is a dilemma that I have to deal with regularly within the African communities in Scotland.
    I couldn’t agree more with your suggestions around mission and growth strategy. It’s not and will not work until, they are professionally redesigned in line with contemporary expectations and style.
    I made the same points you are making in one of our frustrating TISEC meetings, the church is tarnishing away in the hands of people who are either to lazy to be imaginative or who simply don’t care about the future. I honestly have one prayer, people like you to become in charge one day!

    Reply

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